Watch UFC São Paulo, with Jacaré Shogun and Charles Do Bronx

R.Jacaré moves up in weight and faces Blachowicz in the UFC Sao Paulo. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook RonaldoJacareSouza

Since Royce gracie shocked the world by winning the first edition of the UFC, martial arts fans look at Brazil in a different way. This Saturday (16), Ultimate arrives for the third time, in 2019, in Tupiniquim territory and brings sports enthusiasts a card with 24 presentations, including legends and promises from national MMA.

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In the main fight of the night, the public will finally be able to see how Ronaldo Jacare, former 'Strikeforce' champion and respected middleweight athlete, will make his debut in the light heavyweight category (up to 93kg.). The Espírito Santo will exchange forces with the dangerous Jan Blachowicz and hopes to win to immediately join the elite of the category.

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The co-main fight will feature an athlete from the old guard of MMA. Mauritius Shogun, PRIDE idol and former light heavyweight champion of the company will try to prove his good form in a confrontation against Paul Craig.

In addition to the two stars, the card will feature 15 more fighters, who will climb into the Octagon to defend the Brazilian flag and shake up the audience at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium.

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The event is scheduled to start at 19pm (Brasília time), while the main event is scheduled to start at 22pm (Brasília time).

To get in the mood, the team at SUPER FIGHTS selected five reasons to follow the UFC Sao Paulo. Check out:

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1) Alligator and belt hunting

R. Jacaré on 'media day' for the UFC Sao Paulo. Photo: Reproduction/VH Gonzaga

Since debuting in the UFC in May 2013, Ronaldo has been considered one of the serious candidates to hold the company's middleweight belt. With a 'Strikeforce' title under his belt, the athlete came to haunt the division, which was once dominated by Anderson Silva.

Considered by many to be unfair to the company, Jacaré never had the chance to fight for the number one position. It took eight fights for the Brazilian to feel the taste of defeat in Ultimate for the first time.

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Even though he was beaten, Ronaldo managed to recover and, after hitting Vitor belfort and Tim Boetsch got closer to a title shot. To do so, they would need to beat the person who would become the division champion: Robert whittaker. The Espírito Santo ended up defeated and walked away from the title.

After the setback, the athlete approached the chance to perform for the strap on three more occasions, but ended up failing on the rest.

With a defeat in April against Jack hermansson, the dream of hegemony in the middleweight division ended up moving even further away. Away from the title, Ronaldo chose to test himself in the heaviest category. The athlete will make his debut in the division reigned by Jon Jones and hopes that in the new group he can fulfill his dream of having the honor of being UFC champion on his resume.

2) Ronaldo x Blachowicz

J. Blachowicz (left) and R. Jacaré (right) facing the UFC Sao Paulo. Photo: VH Gonzaga

If Jacaré likes challenges, the light heavyweight division will be a great option. To reach the belt, which today belongs to the unquestionable Jon Jones, the athlete will have to test themselves against great opponents, literally.

Your first obstacle will be the polish Jan Blachowicz, who recently delivered a devastating knockout to an old acquaintance of the Brazilian: Luke Rockhold. The American, former middleweight champion, tried his luck in the top division and ended up failing when he was surprised by the strength of Jan's fists.

Just like Luke, another former middleweight champion had no luck in moving up the division. Chris Weidman was recently beaten by the promising Dominick reyes.

To win, Jacaré must mirror the mistakes of his former category mates and avoid being surprised by the strength of his opponents.

If he defeats Blachowicz, currently sixth in the rankings, Ronaldo will officially enter the category's radar and could, if he continues to win, be a title challenger soon.

3) Shogun x Paul Craig

M. Shogun (left) faces P; Craig (right) on UFC Sao Paulo. Photo: VH Gonzaga

Whenever Mauritius Shogun holds a fight, MMA fans are sure that, win or lose, they are watching a legend still active. Even though he is relatively young, the Curitiba native is part of the group that helped promote the sport around the world.

The fighter, who was an idol of the extinct PRIDE, is a former Ultimate champion and, this Saturday, will make his 38th appearance in his career, which began in 2002.

Having recently completed his 17-year career, the athlete is still exciting in his fights, showing the race that made him famous worldwide in the sport.

Against Craig, the Curitiba native will attempt his 27th triumph and, in front of the inflamed Brazilian public, he can once again aim for great achievements within the category.

4) From the Bronx and the search for the lightweight elite

C. Do Bronx will fight in UFC Sao Paulo. Photo: Reproduction / Twitter @ufc

After several convincing victories since debuting for the UFC, Charles of the Bronx fell in favor with Brazilian fans. Considered one of the most dangerous finishers in Ultimate, the São Paulo native reaches the UFC Sao Paulo with the intention of winning so as to be able to challenge a well-ranked combatant in the lightweight division (up to 70,3 kg.), which today is dominated by Khabib Nurmagomedov.

For some time now, Chales has shown that he is ready to play at the elite level in one of the organization's most challenging categories. Coming from five consecutive victories, the athlete, this Saturday, will face Jared gordon and they need to win to fulfill their dream of being among the best in the division once and for all.

5) UFC and Brazil

R. Gracie (left) and K. Shamrock (right) fighting for Ultimate in 1995. Photo: Reproduction/YouTube UFC

If there were no Brazilian fighters, would there be UFC? That's a question we'll never know for sure.

Many don't know, but one of the creators of Ultimate was born in Brazil. The octagon and the idea of putting athletes from multiple martial arts disciplines into combat came from Rorion Gracie's mind. In the early 90s, the Rio native became interested in the electronic game model, 'Mortal Kombat'.

The idea was to promote the meeting of different fighting styles and, thus, be able to, in the end, know which was the most efficient. One of the intentions was also to spread jiu-jitsu as an effective model of personal confrontation over other arts.

Royce gracie, Rorion's brother, became, in November 1993, the first man to win the tournament, in which fighters had more than one fight on the same night.

From then on, the Tupiniquim public began to take a liking to the show, as did the rest of the world, which, in addition to learning about jiu-jitsu, became interested in a sport that had already been banned in several countries.

Years passed and, today, there are MMA fans all over the world and Ultimate ended up establishing itself as the biggest mixed martial arts company to date.

Brazil is considered one of the biggest breeding grounds for athletes in the sport and has had several champions in the company, such as Anderson Silva, Rodrigo Minotauro, Fabricio Werdum, José Aldo, Amanda nunes, Chris Cyborg, Renan Barao, Lyoto Machida and others.